WRP: Thank you for agreeing to do this interview for our Blog, I really appreciate it.
Author: You’re quite welcome.
WRP: Tell us who is author Taisha Demay?
Author/Guest: My name is Taisha DeMay, I’m originally from New York City, but I currently reside in North Carolina. I am a US Army Veteran, married with two adult children and one grandchild.
WRP: Tell us about your books? What genre do you write?
Author/Guest: My book Love, Truth and Consequences is an interracial romance set in the city of New York about a CPA who is in love with her boss learns he doesn’t exactly share her feeling after accidently overhearing a conversation between he and another executive. Needless to say she is less then pleased and decides with the help of a friend to show him what he would be missing. Presently the genre I write would be Contemporary Romance.
WRP: Has this always been your career choice? What was your career choice?
Author/Guest Not exactly. At one time I wanted to become a fashion designer.
WRP: What inspired you to write?
Author/Guest I actually became inspired to write by an article I read called The Power Of The Printed Word I read in a magazine. It featured authors Kurt Vonnegut, William H. Cosby and two others, I forget. Anyway, it talked about how books can shape and influence a person’s life. I was so impressed I started writing short stories and then submitted a few succeeding in getting one published in Readers Digest. That was when the writing bug bit me officially.
WRP: Are you self-published or published through a company? What is the name?
Author/Guest I am currently signed with RhysWorld Publishing House.
WRP: What was your journey like into the writing industry?
Author/Guest Initially it was the worst experience I had ever had. I learn pretty early that this industry is filled with cutthroats from authors all the way down to publishers. It is truly a jungle out there.
WRP: What was the toughest experience of your journey?
Author/Guest The toughest part of my journey was getting the courage to submit a story to a publisher. I think it was the fear of rejection that stopped me, and once I got over that I stopped worrying about it, if they didn’t like it, they didn’t like it I would just move on and
submit my work someplace else.
WRP: Who is the person that has most influenced your life?
Author/Guest: My aunt Hortense, she was the type of person that never let anything or anyone stop
her from taking a chance. She was absolutely fearless and I adored her.
WRP: Do you have any writing rituals? How long does it take you from start to finish?
Author/Guest: Yes. Once I get an idea for a story I write it down. I do what I call a skeleton which is the bare bones of my story: The characters names, race, description, job description, their family etc. Then I I download pictures of what I believe they would look like in real life. After that, I began figuring out the plot, what will drive the story and the point I’m trying to make. Once I figure that out I start doing research on the occupation or career my characters have. For example, if one of my characters works in a restaurant I find out everything from what kind of uniform they’ll wear all the way down to their position and daily work routine. Usually it’ll take me anywhere from two weeks to a month to do the actual plotting and maybe a couple of months depending on the length of the story to complete.
WRP: What makes your pen stand out from other authors in the same genre?
Author/Guest: They way that I write. I try not to mimic other authors too much. I try my best to be me.
WRP: What do you want the readers to get out of your work?
Author/Guest: I want them to get that not only am I a writer but I am a lover of books. Another author once told me when I asked her for some advice to write a story that I would want to read.WRP: Walk us through deadline time, what is it like?
Author/Guest: Once I receive the deadline date I circle the date on my calendar, and then I began plotting the overall premise of my book.
WRP: Have you ever experienced writer’s block? What do you do, if that happens?
Author/Guest: Yes, Usually when this happens I will read over what I’ve already written so that the words will start to flow again, it always works.
WRP: Urban fiction has a lot of negative press being a so called bad influence on the youth and perpetuating black stereo-types. What are your thoughts on that?
Author/Guest: It all depends on the author and how the story is written. I admit when I was first exposed to Urban literature I considered it degrading to the black culture. I mean the stories glorified drug dealers, pimps, hoes and side-chicks. Although having grown up in urban areas and exposed to that type of life I never wanted to be a part of it and considered the writers of it uncouth and common thugs. I later changed my opinion after meeting a few writers in this genre and learned they weren’t as I thought and were really talented, these were just people telling it like they saw it and were just as hardworking as other authors in other genres.
WRP: As an African American Author do you see your work as being relatable to a general public?
Author: Yes, for the most part I do. I mean romance is a mixture of reality as well as fantasy. The reason people read it is because they want to escape from their lives and live through the characters in the story. Our job as the writer is to provide that escape as well as telling a good, solid story. My characters are ordinary people, they have insecurities, wishes and dreams just like people in the real world. That’s what I try to convey in my stories.
WRP: Can you tell us about any future projects you are working on?
Author/Guest: My future projects would be as follows, I am planning a follow-up to Love, Truth and Consequences, this will be Miller Greenfields story, Carter Preston’s friend. Also, I am currently working on a romantic suspense story about a serial arsonist with some major issues called Through the Fire, as well as a Paranormal entitled: The Love of A Bear.
WRP: If people wanted to get in contact with you, how can they find you?
Author/Guest: They can find me on Facebook under Author Taisha DeMay. On Twitter: TaishaDeMay01 as well as Instagram:
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